Foundation The agency was founded in London in 1850, when Edmund Charles Mather began an advertising agency on
Fleet Street. By the 1860s, Mather had a U.S. branch called Mather & Abbott at 335 Broadway, New York City. After Mather's death in 1886, his son, Harley Lawrence Mather, partnered with Herbert Oakes Crowther, and the London agency became known as Mather & Crowther. The agency pioneered
newspaper advertising, which was in its infancy, due to a loosening of tax restrictions; and educated manufacturers about the efficacy of
advertising while producing "how-to" manuals for the nascent advertising industry. In 1921, Mather and Crowther hired Francis Ogilvy as a
copywriter. Ogilvy eventually became the first non-family member to chair the agency. When the agency launched the
AGA cooker, a
Swedish cook stove, Francis composed letters in
Greek to appeal to British
public schools, the appliance's best sales leads. Francis also helped his younger brother,
David Ogilvy, secure a position as an AGA salesman. The younger Ogilvy was so successful at selling the cooker, he wrote a sales manual for the company in 1935 called "The Theory and Practice of Selling the Aga Cooker". It was later called "probably the best sales manual ever written", by
Fortune magazine. David Ogilvy sent the manual to Francis who was persuaded to hire him as a trainee. Ogilvy began studying advertising, particularly campaigns from America, which he viewed as the gold standard. In 1938, David Ogilvy convinced Francis to send him to the
United States on
sabbatical to study American advertising. Over the next ten years, Ogilvy worked in research at the
Gallup polling company, worked for
British Intelligence during
World War II, and then spent a few years farming among the
Amish community in
Pennsylvania. Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson, & Mather's first account was securing magazine advertising space for Wedgwood. The agency had its first successful ad with Ogilvy's concept "The Guinness Guide to Oysters", which was followed by several other similar food and Guinness pairing guides. The first large client was
Sunoco (then called Sun Oil), procured by Hewitt in February 1949. A breakthrough came after the agency was approached by
Maine-based shirt manufacturer
C. F. Hathaway Company. The company only had a small budget, but its president promised to "never change a word of copy". In 1951, they introduced "The man in the Hathaway shirt" campaign. The advertisement featured an aristocratic man wearing an
eyepatch that Ogilvy purchased on the way to the ad's
photo shoot. Hathaway was sold out of shirts within a week of the first ad's printing. The campaign increased the shirt maker's sales by 160 percent, resulted in new business for the agency, and turned the recognizable "Hathaway Man" and his eyepatch into a popular cultural
trope.
Ogilvy, Benson & Mather Disagreements between Hewitt and Ogilvy, particularly about creative direction and who should run the agency, resulted in Ogilvy's resignation in 1953. That same year, the agency nearly doubled in size after winning the
Shell Oil account. The agency agreed to work for Shell on a fee basis rather than the traditional commission model and became one of the first major advertising agencies to do so.
Ogilvy & Mather In reaction to the growth of
international advertising, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather formed an equal partnership with Mather & Crowther in November 1964. Under the terms of the partnership, the two agencies became
subsidiaries of a new
parent company called Ogilvy & Mather, which was headquartered in New York. In January 1965, both changed their names to Ogilvy & Mather and the parent company became known as Ogilvy & Mather International Inc. Scali, McCabe, Sloves in 1976; and Cone & Weber in 1977. Another acquisition, Hodes-Daniel, resulted in the establishment of the agency's direct-response service, called Ogilvy & Mather Direct, in 1976. It was renamed OgilvyOne Worldwide in 1997. After moving permanently to his French castle
Château de Touffou in 1973, David Ogilvy stepped down as chairman and became Head of Worldwide Creative in 1975.
1980s The agency opened its
public relations division, Ogilvy & Mather Public Relations, in 1980. The next year, Ogilvy & Mather established the Interactive Marketing Group and became the first major agency to establish an
interactive capability. In December 1983, David Ogilvy retired as Creative Head. In 1985, Ogilvy & Mather International was renamed as the Ogilvy Group Inc. The group included three divisions: Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, a new name for all Ogilvy & Mather offices including Ogilvy & Mather Direct and Ogilvy & Mather Public Relations; Scali McCabe Sloves Group; and several independent associate agencies, such as Cole & Weber.
Kenneth Roman, president of Ogilvy & Mather United States, was named president of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. and was promoted to chairman in 1987. He became chairman of the Ogilvy Group in 1988, succeeding Graham Phillips. In 1989,
WPP plc, a British advertising
holding company, acquired the Ogilvy Group for $864 million, which, at the time, was the most ever paid for an advertising agency. David Ogilvy initially resisted the sale, but eventually accepted the title of WPP honorary chairman, a position he relinquished in 1992. Following the departure of Roman for
American Express in 1989, Graham Phillips became the chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.
1990s In 1992,
Charlotte Beers replaced Graham Phillips as chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. Philips remained as vice chairman. Beers was recruited from the Tatham, Laird & Kudner advertising agency and was the first "outsider" to lead Ogilvy & Mather. She was also the first woman to lead a major international agency. Beers introduced the concept of "
brand stewardship" to the agency, a philosophy of brand-building over time. She is also credited with helping Ogilvy & Mather bring in new business after a downturn. David Ogilvy died at age 88 in the
Château de Touffou, his home, in July 1999. The Federalist Group subsequently changed its name to Ogilvy Government Relations. The firm is known for lobbying against
climate change mitigation efforts on behalf of some of the biggest oil and chemical groups in the world. In 2005, Shona Seifert and Thomas Early, two former directors of Ogilvy & Mather, were convicted of one count of conspiring to defraud the government and nine counts of filing false claims for Ogilvy, over-billing for advertising work done for the United States
Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) account. The agency was hired by the ONDCP in 1998 to create anti-drug ads aimed at adolescents. At the time, it was the largest social marketing contract in history. Ogilvy & Mather repaid $1.8 million to the government to settle a civil suit based on the same billing issues. Miles Young became Worldwide CEO in January 2009 after leading the company's
Asia-Pacific division for 13 years. Lazarus remained chairman until 2012, when Young succeeded her. Under Young's leadership, the agency focused on a "Twin Peaks" strategy of producing advertisements that are equally creative and effective. New business was also Young's priority. Young promoted Tham Khai Meng, his creative partner in the Asia-Pacific division, as Worldwide Chief Creative Officer in 2009. Tham laid out a five-year plan to improve the agency's performance at Cannes.
2010s In 2010, the agency established OgilvyRED, a specialty strategic consultancy. In June 2013, OgilvyAction, the agency's
activation unit, merged with other WPP-owned properties—G2 Worldwide and JWTAction—to form Geometry Global, an activation network that operates in 56 markets. Ogilvy's production division, RedWorks Worldwide, merged with production company
Hogarth Worldwide, forming Hogarth & Ogilvy in March 2015 to serve the production needs of all of WPP's agencies. The agency was named both the
Cannes Lions "Network of the Year" and
CLIO "Network of the Year" for four consecutive years, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. It was also named
Effies "World's most Effective Agency Network" in 2012, 2013 and 2016. Ogilvy Public Relations in China faced accusations in the media of overworking a 24-year-old employee who died of a heart attack while in the office in May 2013. The claims were not confirmed. Four years later, a similar event occurred with a young staffer in the Philippines. In June 2015, Young announced he would retire as both Worldwide chairman and CEO to take the position of warden at his alma mater, New College at Oxford University. In November 2017, according to reports, Ogilvy & Mather won the
Turespaña account, worth two million euros. Similar to other advertising, marketing, and public relations agencies in the years leading up to 2017–2018, Ogilvy has seen an influx of advertisers and publishers establishing in-house creative teams, and an industry-wide increase in emphasis on digital media ad buying. Over the years, Ogilvy responded to changing demands by creating numerous businesses; and the magazine
Fast Company wrote that it "looked more like a holding company of its own". By 2018, Ogilvy was organized as a number of individual units that handled different areas of focus. Ogilvy Public Relations was responsible for the agency's public relations offering. OgilvyOne was the agency's direct marketing unit The firm's Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide unit focused on healthcare communications and marketing. The agency handled production work through Hogarth & Ogilvy, a joint venture between Ogilvy & Mather and
Hogarth Worldwide formed in 2015. As of 2013, sales activation and
shopper marketing were administered through Geometry Global, a unit formed through the merger of several WPP agencies, including what was previously known as OgilvyAction. In addition to the agency's main services, Ogilvy & Mather operated several other specialty practices. In 2010, the agency created Ogilvy Noor, a practice focused on creating marketing that appeals to
Muslims. OgilvyRED was established in 2011 as a
consultancy within the agency that worked with Ogilvy's other units to prepare plans for clients' marketing
strategies. The agency formed Social@Ogilvy in 2012 to work on
social media projects for clients. The practice operated within each of Ogilvy & Mather's major units, including advertising, direct marketing, public relations, and
digital marketing. The
behavioural sciences practice #OgilvyChange was also founded in 2012 by
Rory Sutherland in Ogilvy & Mather's London office. #OgilvyChange employed
psychologists and other behavioural scientists to consult on using research in these fields to understand and influence consumers. OgilvyAmp (short for "amplify") handled tasks related to the
data planning and
analytics needs of clients. The unit was established in 2014 and was present at over 50 of the agency's offices. Ogilvy Pride was formed in the agency's London office in 2015 as an LGBT practice. Company leadership said Ogilvy became too complicated with these individual units. CEO John Seifert launched the company's "re-founding" in June 2018, during which the company changed its name from Ogilvy & Mather to Ogilvy, restructured, and rolled out a new, unified brand and logo to simplify its services. The company retained its separate strategy division, but renamed it to Ogilvy Consulting. He restructured Ogilvy's services under five core business units: Advertising, Experience, Public Relations, Health, and Consulting. Notable clients the agency acquired in 2021 included vodka brand
Absolut (March), car rental holding company
Enterprise Holdings (April), The
New York Philharmonic (July),
TD Bank Group (September),
World of Hyatt (May), US agency
Federal Emergency Management Agency (October), and
Coca-Cola (November). In September 2022, Devika Bulchandani replaced Main as CEO. Notable clients the agency acquired in 2022 included automobile manufacturer
Audi of America (May). In March 2024, the agency announced that its customer experience and relationship services, which consisted of its customer acquisition, service design, continuous commerce, and CRM & loyalty groups, would be unified under the Ogilvy One brand, with Ogilvy veteran Kent Wertime serving as CEO. Effective Jan. 1, 2026, Lyndsey Corona will serve as the CEO for the U.S. ==Major work==